Bare
by superstargirl7
Summary: Oneshot. My take on what should have happened after Brooke fired Victoria. Starts with the ending of episode 5.11, with the firing scene. BROWEN. Rated T just in case... Please read and review, even if Owen isn't your favorite person right now...


**O.K., so I wrote this way back when I liked Owen and thought to write a story about him and Brooke and where I thought things would be going. Since Owen left Brooke like an idiotic baby, I don't really like him as much, but I decided to post this anyway, but as a one-shot. I heard that he might be coming back in the 6th season, so maybe in the future I will continue this story. Anyway- I hope you read this, even though I know many of you share my dislike to Owen, and please tell me what you think! ;-)**

Disclaimer: I don't own OTH or any of its characters.

* * *

"I said – You are fired", Brooke's voice was merely a raspy whisper, but it carried the conviction with which she made her declaration.

"I am not an employee", Victoria stepped up to her daughter, standing intimidatingly close to her and glaring at her, "I am your mother", Victoria suddenly softened up her glare and tone, and looked deeply into Brooke's eyes, as if she was speaking to her heart.

"I know", Brooke sadly said. That was a fact she could never deny, but despite that, she wasn't going to break. Brooke wasn't going to back away from the decision she knew she should have made long before, "You're fired", Brooke quietly said, fighting her rising emotions. There was a moment of silence between the mother and daughter, in which Victoria realized she had just pushed her daughter too far.

"You can go now", Brooke finally said, as coldly as she possibly could. Victoria stared at her for another moment, scorn returning to her eyes and replacing the artificial warmth she had tried to trick Brooke with. She then went over to the couch, grabbed her bag and walked away, leaving Brooke behind to fight the emotions that she had so bravely suppressed inside of her.

Brooke heavily sighed upon hearing her store's door slam after her mother. She stood there, crossing her arms over herself, holding herself tightly, as if she would break apart if she would let go. She bit her lower lip with all the power she could muster, struggling against the tears that threatened to wash her over.

Brooke took a shaky breath, still having to fight the strong urge to break down and cry. She just couldn't believe that she really fired her own mother, and not because she was a poor businesswoman, because she wasn't. Simply because she was a bad person, and even a worse mother. Brooke took another shaky breath. She felt so lonely. As though she was now alone in the world.

Brooke suddenly heard the door open. "We're closed!", she yelled back without turning around, her raspy voice cracking at the last syllable. The figure that stood in the entrance of the store made no sound, but Brooke could feel the presence of this person in the room. She could almost physically feel the person's eyes staring at her shaking shoulders, and upon realizing that her mother must have come back to apologize and beg for forgiveness, finally turned around.

"Owen…", Brooke called out in surprise upon realizing that her surprise visitor wasn't her mother at all.

"You forgot your purse in my car…", he carefully stepped into the store and walked up to her slowly, handing her purse over to her.

"Thanks", Brooke forced a small smile for a moment, and quickly turned away from Owen, over to the counter.

"Brooke", Owen followed her again, but quickly this time. After he had taken a good, close look at her hurt face, he was certain that something was wrong with her, and he was planning on finding what it was. Owen turned Brooke around with determination and held her down with just enough strength to keep her from moving, yet remain from hurting her. "What's wrong?", he looked at her with care.

"Don't look at me", Brooke pleaded with him quietly, her face turned away from him. She tried to free herself from Owen's grip, but he wouldn't let her go. Owen kept on holding her down, forcing her to face him.

"Why?", Owen questioned, not taking his eyes off of her.

"I'm a mess…", Brooke let out an upset laugh and tried to turn away from Owen, meeting his resistant grasp once again. "Owen, please…", Brooke almost begged him to let her go. She could already feel the tears pool in her eyes as Owen's care for her touched her heart. She knew that she wouldn't be able to hold her emotions inside of her for much longer with Owen's caring presence, and couldn't let herself break down in front of him. Brooke's heart had been damaged so badly, she couldn't let Owen in just yet, especially now, when her heart received yet another deadly blow.

"Brooke, you're not a mess…", Owen spoke softy, in a soothing tone. Brooke closed her eyes, knowing that her tears were about to defeat her, and then felt Owen's big hand gently cupping her cheek. She slightly leaned into his touch and felt his fingers carefully caressing her cheek. Two tears escaped from her eyes and were quickly wiped away by Owen's thumb. Brooke sniffled and opened her gorgeous hazel eyes, which were now completely filled with tears. She was immediately met with Owen's big, warm brown eyes, which were looking at her with concern, trying to look beyond her tears and into her soul.

"I told you I'm a mess…", Brooke let out a half sob-half laugh, looking away from him and wiping the few tears that fell from her wet eyes.

"You're not a mess, Brooke, you're beautiful", Owen's voice was genuinely sincere, and made Brooke look back up at him. He cupped her cheeks and held on to her face, and upon locking her eyes with his again, Brooke could tell that he wasn't only talking about her undeniable physical beauty, but also about the inner beauty that shone out now that she let her guard down.

"Owen, please… I don't want you to see me like this…", Brooke pleaded weakly, making a final attempt at protecting her already shattered heart from potentially breaking all over again.

"Hey, it's O.K….", Owen knew where Brooke's head was going. He could see by the vulnerable look in her eyes why she was pushing him away. "I finally just saw what's under all the clothes, Brooke Davis", Owen rubbed Brooke's cheek with his thumb, and smiled when he saw her dimpled smile appear for a moment, "and it's everything I could have ever asked for", Owen paused, and upon seeing the tears that were welling up in Brooke's eyes, which she bravely prevented from falling down her cheeks, added, "If you let me in, I promise to guard your heart with my life". Owen looked deeply into Brooke's eyes and that did it. She let out a defeated cry and allowed the warm tears to flow from her eyes and down her cheeks.

"Come here, baby…", Owen wrapped his strong, muscular arms around Brooke's trembling little body. Her small figure was buried in his big hug as his arms enveloped her and covered almost all of her up.

"I fired Victoria today", Brooke revealed to Owen, and then broke down completely, her body violently shaking with her heart-wrenching sobs. Owen felt his stomach drop as Brooke clenched his shirt with her little hands and buried her teary face in his chest, just like a lost child in desperate need of comfort. Owen brought her even closer to him, and upon feeling her heart race, tightened his grip on her body protectively.

"It's O.K., baby", Owen whispered to her ear, holding Brooke as close to him as he could, "Let it out", he instructed her, rubbing her back soothingly, and Brooke did as she was told, and cried her heart out. Brooke let out all the hurt that her mother piled on her heart. She suddenly realized that her mother had never really wanted her. Even though Brooke would have done anything to make her mother proud and receive some gesture of love from her, the only way Victoria perceived her was as a business opportunity. She never really treated her as though she was her daughter, as if she never really wanted one.

"I'm just a mistake to her", Brooke cried, and then went weak in the knees. Owen grabbed her limp body and lifted her up in his strong arms.

"Brooke, you are not a mistake. Don't you ever say that!", Owen spoke sternly and all Brooke could do was cry even harder and grab onto Owen for dear life. Owen felt his heart breaking upon witnessing Brooke fall apart in his arms. He carried her over to the couch and carefully sat her on his lap, his arms tightly wrapped around her body. He felt Brooke inch even a bit closer to him and tuck her head in the crook of his neck. Owen leaned down and planted a long, soft kiss on Brooke's trembling shoulder. He then began to gently stroke her body as Brooke's sobs slowly subsided. When he felt Brooke's little hands grasp his shirt again as she let out a muffled whimper, Owen realized that behind Brooke's confident and seductive façade, she was just a little girl wanting to be loved, and afraid that nobody would ever truly love what's in her soul, under all her clothes.

"She said I earned her help", Owen suddenly heard Brooke say in a little voice. He couldn't believe his ears.

"What?! God! That woman is unbelievable…", Owen exclaimed in rage, tightening his grip on Brooke's slightly trembling body. He held her as close to him as he possibly could, as he suddenly felt a strong need to protect her. As Owen heard Brooke sniffle, he sat her up on his lap and looked into her eyes, "Brooke, you really shouldn't have to deal with that. Victoria is the one with the problem, not you". Brooke nodded sadly, still quite evidently upset, so Owen squeezed her shoulders, "Hey, she deserved being fired. If I treated my boss like he was an idiot, I'd be fired too…".

At his remark, Brooke began weeping as hard as hell again. Owen brought her back to him and hugged her tightly once more.

"Hey, Brooke… Don't cry, baby", Owen's plea only caused more clear tears to soak his neck. "What is it, babe?", he gently asked her, wanting to know what upset her again.

"Maybe I really am just stupid and good for nothing exactly as she says. She should know, she's my mom, right?", Brooke sobbed. Now that she let her tears out, all the pain that was piled on her heart spilled out as well. She got up to her feet and tried to run away, suddenly ashamed that she was sharing her deepest insecurities with Owen, but there was no way he was letting her go now. He immediately grabbed her wrist, halting her actions.

"Brooke!", Owen called out as she struggled against him, eager to take off. Brooke was now crying even harder than before as she fought Owen, trying to release herself from his forceful grip.

"Owen, please! I need to be alone right now", Brooke pleaded with him, crying hysterically and still trying to flee, but the hand with which Owen held her wrist was like an iron fist.

"No, Brooke, you don't!", Owen shouted into her face. He realized he was being a bit aggressive towards Brooke, but he felt like it was the only way to get through to her. "Listen to me right now!", Owen was yelling and shaking Brooke, trying to truly make his words sink in, "Never ever call yourself stupid again, do you hear me?!", Owen yelled and looked into Brooke's teary eyes. She was still fighting as hard as she could, but her feminine form could never compete with Owen's built-up body. Owen wrapped his arms around Brooke's struggling body, holding her to him as she fought against him, still sobbing uncontrollably. Brooke kicked him and tried to push him in her desperate attempts to get away, but Owen just kept on silently holding her to him with his enormous strength, allowing her to let it all out.

Brooke finally gave up as she had no more strength left to fight Owen. She fell against his chest, crying with frustration and pain about her lack of choice but to confront her fears in front of Owen, about her mother, about how lonely she felt, about her broken heart and about it all. At the instant Brooke stopped fighting him, Owen's firm and forceful grip on her body turned into a big, warm hug. His strong arms no longer caged her, but simply held her close and protected her from any harm.

"I'm sorry…", Brooke's voice was a mere squeak in the sea of her sobs that would have gone unnoticed by Owen had he not been holding her so close to him that he felt her every heartbeat and heard every sharp breath she took. He kissed her on the top of her head and began rubbing her back and shoulders, as she cried in heart-wrenching sobs.

Gradually, Brooke calmed down. Sobs turned to whimpers turned to shaky breaths and finally, into deep, exhausted air-intakes. Owen glanced down at the beautiful shattered porcelain doll he held in his arms, and could instantly tell how tired she had become. All the emotions she let out and the fierce fight Owen put her through had both taken their toll on her. Brooke was nestled in Owen's arms, her tired eyelids lazily revealing and then hiding again her tear-stained hazel eyes. Her body was leaning on Owen's figure for stability, as her feet were too weak to hold her up. Owen felt Brooke's weight shift into his arms more and more until eventually his grasp on her body was the only thing keeping Brooke on her feet.

"Come on, babe, let's get you home", Owen gently suggested. Brooke sniffled and drew apart from him. She took a few steps back and silently wiped the remaining dampness off of her swollen cheeks, tripping slightly due to her still shaky and weak legs.

"Whoa… Easy there", Owen grabbed Brooke's unstable form and steadied her.

"Great… Even when I'm not drunk you have to save me from myself…", Brooke mumbled and then sniffled again, as Owen couldn't help but smile. Even when she was exhausted and upset, Brooke Davis managed to be adorable as hell.

"Hey, someone's got to…", Owen smiled at her playfully. Brooke frowned, causing Owen to chuckle and teasingly tap her nose, "Every elite fashion designer has to have a life-savor, right?", Owen put up one of his fake, cocky smiles which would have been part of the flirtatious game he and Brooke always played any other day, but now was just an attempt to cheer up the broken girl that stood in front of him. Brooke let out a slightly choked-up laugh, and just as Owen thought he saw a hint of her beaming, dimpled smile, she buried her face in his broad chest again.

"Thank you", Brooke squeaked out into his shirt before Owen could even react, as he was caught by surprise by her actions. At the sound of her raspy voice, Owen embraced her again, and kissed her neck twice. He stroked her back up and down several times and then finally spoke.

"Babe, you must be exhausted… Let me take you home, alright?", Brooke nodded into his chest, and as Owen pulled her from his embrace, he saw her quickly wipe away a sole tear that cascaded down her porcelain cheek. Owen smiled at Brooke reassuringly and put his arm around her as he gently guided her from her store to his car, and drove her to her house.

As Owen watched Brooke gracefully step out of his car and wave him goodbye, he couldn't help but smile like a fool. That night, he had finally seen Brooke with no clothes, with no masks. That night, he had felt his heart race as he held the hurt, upset girl in his arms. That night, he had fallen in love with Brooke Davis, harder than he had ever fallen in love before.


End file.
